


Soft

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [63]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Parenthood, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29938746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: Leo is not a soft man.His hands are rough, calloused from knives and exam pencils. His tongue is sharp, rife with pointed insults and business proposals. He works hard and competes against others, builds himself companies and makes more money than he knows what to do with by the time he's thirty. He falls in love with a woman who's equally as harsh, with a mischievous smile and calloused hands to rival his own.Leo does not become soft, but things change a bit when he is handed a small bundle wrapped in a white blanket with a pink hat._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character (Implied)
Series: Timelines [63]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/728796
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	Soft

Leo is not a soft man.

His hands are rough, calloused from knives and exam pencils. His tongue is sharp, rife with pointed insults and business proposals. He works hard and competes against others, builds himself companies and makes more money than he knows what to do with by the time he's thirty. He falls in love with a woman who's equally as harsh, with a mischievous smile and calloused hands to rival his own. Renee is rude and brash and Leo marries her two years to the day of meeting her. They live a bright and exciting life for another two years until he finds himself being hit with a piss covered pregnancy test.

Leo does not become soft, but things change a bit when he is handed a small bundle wrapped in a white blanket with a pink hat. Renee, all sweaty brown curls and a post-birth lovedrunk smile, watches as he traces a tiny replica of his nose with a calloused finger. They call her Rachel.

He learns to affix diapers, to warm bagged breast milk at four A.M. when Renee is in tears and the baby will not stop screaming. He perfects the art of warming the bath water and takes great pride in being the only parent in their group to avoid being shit on- until that streak is broken when she is five months old. His large fingers adapt to snapping tiny buttons into place, to tying laces half the size of his own.

He teaches tiny feet to walk, encourages a silent mouth to form words. He endures long appointments when she refuses to make sound only to find his child is an asshole. After the seventh appointment, after dozens of tests and a few tentative diagnoses, a tiny voice from the back seat concisely demands chicken nuggets and fries. Leo grips the wheel hard enough that it squeaks and gives in, and they have less appointments after that.

He holds a small hand as he crosses streets, guides down stairs. Her nails are a different color every week, though she picks shades of purple most often. Personally, he wears his black. Small fingers encircle his index and middle fingers, too small to grasp more than that. Rachel still rarely speaks, but points at anything that catches her fancy. He is six feet even, and despite the little one's head not even reaching his hip, he finds himself at the mercy of wherever that tiny purple painted nail points. Black nails point in return, redirecting, but he still finds himself dragging along behind a child that isn't even four feet tall.

He wears his glasses in public only for her, to watch her every move with clarity. Her hair is pulled back in a neat bun that he has perfected and she the only lilac tutu in a sea of various pinks. Most of the other girls fumble around, giggle, lose track of what they are supposed to be doing. They're all four after all, their attention spans rival that of a goldfish. But he watches Rachel, the only lilac tutu in a sea of pink, the only sure feet on the stage that make it to the end of the recital without a single misstep.

He sits up in the middle of the night and pulls the sheet around his body, lifts the crying child at the side of the bed into his lap. A large, calloused hand presses a small head against his bare chest. Rachel's hair smells like a sickly sweet mixture of strawberry and watermelon when he presses a kiss to the top of her head. Little fingers curl into the sparse dusting of hair on his chest, tugging but never quite pulling. She's always done that. Even as a baby, she would soothe herself by touching the roughness of his five o'clock shadow, by curling a hand against his chest. Leo closes his eyes, lets his forehead rest against her.

Leo holds his little girl close to his beating heart, feels the heat of a little palm flat against his sternum. He lays back after a while and places Rachel between himself and Renee, feeling the warmth of her stuttering breaths slowly even out. A large hand nearly overtakes her tiny back, but he rubs delicately along her spine until he's sure she has fallen asleep. Closing his eyes, he tucks her head under his chin and allows himself to drift off.

Leo is not a soft man. He does, however, have a bit of a weak spot for this little creature that bears his wife's eyes and his downturned mouth, with little nails painted lavender.

**Author's Note:**

> No betas we die like men. But no, for real. I wrote this in two hours and barely proofread it, so if there are any spelling or grammar errors, I am truly sorry.
> 
> My last piece was Leo murdering someone and making their corpse unidentifiable all while I proclaimed that he's not a soft man. This one is Leo being soft as fuck for his kid. Consistency? What that?
> 
> I guess this was inspired by the ultrasound my sister-in-law sent me this morning? Got me thinking about the kind of dad Leo is, in some roundabout way and this got stuck in my head. I didn't want it to live there, so now it lives here instead. Also. Uh, I'm gonna be an uncle again I guess? My fiancee is stressed because this is yet another kid I'm going to have to Christmas shop for and I go balls to the fucking wall for Christmas lmfao.
> 
> Feel free to comment or hit me with that sweet, sweet Kudos button. I always appreciate it, but it's not required.
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out, though it's mostly unrelated content. I'm not active much on there, but I'll try to get back to you if you'd rather contact me there.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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